The red hot Hokies (30-5, 10-2) head to Durham this weekend for a 3 game set with the red hot Blue Devils (19-19, 8-4). A schedule change now has a Saturday doubleheader (noon & 2:00), and a single game on Sunday (1:00).
The Blue Devils have won 5 games in a row, sweeping Georgia Tech in Atlanta last weekend and Longwood Wednesday evening.
This is only the second year of Duke softball, so the Devils have a young roster with 7 freshmen and 9 sophomores. Last season, Duke went 29-27 overall, 13-11 in the ACC . Unfortunately for VT fans, two of those wins were not only in Blacksburg, but they were also over VT’s current starting pitchers – a 5-1 win over Keely Rochard and a 5-0 shutout against Carrie Eberle.
The Blue Devils weekend sweep at Georgia Tech was the first ACC road series sweep in program history. In that series, Duke set school ACC series records for hits (41), runs (28), RBI (26) and home runs (6).
Duke freshman Kristina Foreman was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week and ACC Co-Player of the Week for her performance last week. Foreman finished the week 9-for-15 (.600) with seven runs, three RBI and two home runs to tally a 1.000 slugging percentage. She did not strike out and earned one walk and was hit by pitch to record a .647 on-base percentage.
Foreman makes it sounds like the Hokies may be catching the Delis at a bad time. “We have finally started to hit our stride this season, and last weekend was just the beginning,” Foreman said. “From the first pitch, we came out with the intention of winning and dominating, and that's what we did. Stepping into the box this weekend, I felt super comfortable and relaxed. I knew anything the pitcher threw in the zone I was going to hit it. Looking forward, I hope my team and myself continue to stay locked in and keep the 'refuse to lose' mentality."
This year, the Blue Devils have had an up and down season overall. Duke has had some bad losses, such as 10-0 to Army, 3-1 to SC Upstate, 5-4 to Elon, 5-3 to Pittsburgh, and 2-1 to UVA. Their best wins are the sweep of Georgia Tech, a win versus UNC, and a 7-3 opening day win over Notre Dame.
The Devils are led in hitting by their only senior, Reilly Metzger (.342). Metzger started early in the season, but recently has been used primarily in a pinch hitting role.
Sophomore Jamison Kavel (.310), Junior Raine Wilson (.303), and Sophomore Brianna Butler (.302) complete the list of Devils hitting 300 or better. Rachel Abboud (.298), Deja Davis (.295), and Foreman (.290) round out the Devils top hitters. Duke is typically not a power hitting team with only 17 HRs all year. However, 6 of them came last weekend in Atlanta.
Duke does have speed on the basepaths, and have stolen 51 bases in 59 attempts. Freshman Davis has been a master at stealing bases in just her first season of collegiate ball, swiping 17 bases in 17 attempts, a new program record. Marissa Gagliano is 12/15 in thefts and Kaevel is 11/12.
On the defensive side, Tech’s speed will be challenged this weekend. Sophomore catcher Jazmine Moreno is tied for first in the nation with 12 runners caught stealing. She has had three games this year in which she threw a pair of runners thrown out.
In the circle, Coach Marissa Young doesn’t hesitate to change pitchers early and often. In scanning box scores over the past few weeks, almost every game had multiple pitchers – the Devils have only 9 complete games all season – only one in ACC play. The Devils suffered a big loss before the season, losing Katherine Huey to a torn labrum. Last season, Huey started 20 games in the circle and was 9-9 with a 2.43 ERA, not to mention a .262 batting average.
This year, sophomore Brianna Butler (6-2, 2.47 ERA) and Freshman Shelby Walters (4-9, 3.27 ERA) lead the team in starts (15 and 11, respectfully). Duke has a team ERA of 3.20, almost a run per game higher than the Hokies (2.31), who are still paced by their dynamic duo. Keely Rochard picked up two wins against Louisville last weekend to move to 13-2 with a 2.27 ERA while Carrie Eberle is 17-2 with a 1.90 ERA.
There’s not enough good things to say about the Hokies hitting, which is third in the country with a .357 average. Of players who have starter at least 10 games, 11 of them are hitting .293 or better
Darby Trull .448 average, 43 hits, 26 RBIs
Kelsey Bennett .415 average, team leading 11 HRs, ACC Co-Player of the Week
Emma Strouth .407 average, 46 hits, 8 HRs, team leading 45 RBIs
Jayme Bailey .400 average, 32 hits
Al Velazquez .373 average, 41 hits
Mackenzie Lawter .293 average (included because of her 25 starts)
Lauren Duff .298 average (included because of her 15 starts)
Maddi Banks .296 average, 10-10 stolen bases
Caitlyn Nolan .291 average, team leading 11 HRs, 38 RBIs
Grace Chavez .459 average (included because of her 10 starts)
Meredith Slaw .302 average (included because of her 11 starts)
Another week, another good test for the Hokies. The Blue Devils have come a long way in two short years and are certainly more competitive than most people would have thought at this point. They even won the inaugural series against the Hokies last year. They’ve currently won 5 in a row and overall, they’ve played a tougher schedule than the Hokies.
But this isn’t last year’s Hokies – take at look at this post that compares this team’s stats with last year’s (https://virginiatech.sportswar.com/mid/11761218/board/vtothersports/).
The Hokies are playing pretty good softball and they’ve won 13 out of the last 14. It also looks like the Hokies simply have more depth from top to bottom of the lineup, averaging 3+ more runs per game and giving up almost one less run than the Devils. Nothing is a given, but I fell good about the Hokies chances.
Let’s Go Hokies!
Here’s the tale of the tape:
[Post edited by VTChip at 04/05/2019 12:40AM]
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